Ripple has joined forces with the prominent payment fintech Onafriq (formerly MFS Africa), in a bid to enable seamless digital asset-powered cross-border payments between Africa and various new markets.
The partnership aims to bridge the gap between Africa and international markets. Through this partnership, Ripple and Onafriq aim to enhance the efficiency and affordability of international money transfers, thereby promoting financial inclusion across the African continent.
Onafriq is leveraging Ripple Payments’ technology to open three new payment corridors between Africa and the rest of the world. This empowers customers of PayAngel (UK), Pyypl (GCC), and Zazi Transfer (Australia) to conduct fast and cost-effective remittance and business payments to recipients in 27 countries across Onafriq’s extensive pan-African network.
This innovative approach overcomes the typical challenges of cross-border payments, such as slow transfer times and excessive costs, promising faster, more reliable, and cost-effective international money transfers.
“For a number of years, Ripple has supported crypto-enabled, cross-border payments to individuals and businesses, and we are particularly excited to expand the reach of our solution into Africa thanks to our Onafriq partnership,” said Aaron Sears, SVP, Global Customer Success at Ripple. “Connecting our partners PayAngel, Pyppl and Zazi Transfer with Onafriq over Ripple Payments will bring the benefits of faster and more cost-effective cross-border payments to individuals seeking to send money into Africa from around the globe.”
The partnership between Onafriq and Ripple aligns with the growing significance of mobile money in fostering financial inclusion across Africa. It represents a bold step towards using blockchain technologies to enhance the accessibility of financial services to people and businesses on the continent.
Dare Okoudjou, Founder & CEO at Onafriq, said: “Our mission is to make borders matter less when it comes to payment within, to, and from Africa. We are advancing this mission through our partnership with Ripple, which is already enabling new types of connections with fintechs such as PayAngel, Pyppl and Zazi Transfer. These connections are set to enable fast, secure and low-cost remittances at scale between Africa and the rest of the world, and represent a bold first step for our crypto strategy to leverage blockchain technologies to amplify our impact on people and businesses on the continent.”
Ripple, renowned for its enterprise blockchain and cryptocurrency solutions, has been at the forefront of revolutionising cross-border payments. The company’s focus on blockchain technology and digital assets has enabled it to provide efficient, transparent, and cost-effective payment solutions, ultimately addressing long-standing challenges in the multi-trillion-dollar cross-border payments industry.
Onafriq is a leading payments-focused FinTech with a significant footprint in mobile money movement across Africa. With connections to over 500m mobile wallets in 40 African countries and operations across 1300 payment corridors, the firm plays a pivotal role in regional payment interoperability and cross-border payments in the region.
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![Temenos (SIX: TEMN) today announced that National Bank of Iraq (NBI), part of the Capital Bank Group, has successfully gone live with Temenos core banking and payments. NBI, which has 27 branches across Iraq, offers a comprehensive range of services to individuals and businesses in the country. Since 2005, NBI has been majority owned by Capital Bank, one of the top financial institutions operating in the Jordanian and regional markets, with assets of approximately JOD 7.6 billion[1]. With this implementation, NBI moved from its legacy systems onto the same core banking platform as other entities in the Capital Bank Group. This will enable NBI to operate more efficiently and integrate seamlessly with other systems to develop new products faster and deliver an improved customer experience. Capital Bank Group is a long-standing Temenos customer with other entities in the Group including Capital Bank of Jordan, Bank Audi, Société Générale Bank Jordan and NBI Saudi Arabia, already on the Temenos platform. NBI also becomes the first part of the group to adopt Temenos Payments, which enabled the bank to process more than 100,000 transactions of incoming and outgoing domestic and international payments in the first 15 days of operation, with a 99% straight-through processing rate. The migration to the Temenos platform for core banking and payments at NBI was completed in under 12 months thanks to Temenos’ pre-configured banking and payments capabilities and APIs which reduced the need for complex customizations, as well as close collaboration between Temenos, NBI, Capital Bank and delivery partner ITSS. This success was recently recognized in the IBS Intelligence Innovation Awards, with Capital Bank winning ‘Best Implementation of Core Banking Services'. The implementation at NBI follows several other successful transformation projects with Temenos for Capital Bank in the last few years, including the launch of NBI’s branch operations in Saudi Arabia in just 45 days, as well as the integration of Bank Audi and the former Jordanian operations of Société Générale, each of which was achieved in under four months. Collectively, these projects helped Capital Bank to increase operational efficiency by more than 50% within three years, bringing significant cost savings and an improved customer experience. With faster, more accurate processing and immediate service requests, the bank has maintained high customer retention rates and a reputation for service excellence. Izzidin Abusalameh, Chief Operations Officer, Capital Bank Group, commented: “This achievement marks a significant milestone in our digital transformation journey and positions us as a leading player in the banking industry. We have seamlessly transitioned the National Bank of Iraq to a cutting-edge core banking system which will not only enhance operational efficiency but also support providing our customers with a superior digital banking experience. Our continued partnership with Temenos has not only provided us with an advanced technological platform but has also facilitated a culture of flexibility and adaptability, enabling us to execute our ambitious growth plans.” Lee Allcorn, Managing Director, Middle East & Africa, Temenos, said: “Congratulations to National Bank of Iraq and the Capital Bank team on this successful implementation that gives NBI business agility and the same modern technology platform and ability to deploy fast with pre-configured banking capabilities as the rest of the group. With Temenos, Capital Bank Group is future-ready, and we are proud to support them as they continue to innovate and leverage our platform to grow sustainably and enhance the banking experience for customers.”](https://fintech.global/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/rupixen-Q59HmzK38eQ-unsplash-2-218x150.jpg "Flutterwave teams up with Acquired.com to streamline outward remittances in EU and UK")
